1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to interior doors and more particularly to traffic doors.
2. Related Art
Often in retail stores, grocery stores and warehouses, interior doors are used to separate one area from another part of the building. Traditionally, these doors separate the public area of a store from the back area/stock area of the store. Unlike a normal wooden or metal door, these interior doors often have to be wide enough to move pallets and other large/bulk containers through (sometimes with the aid of a forklift). Thus, the term traffic-door has been adopted to describe these types of doors.
The requirement for traffic-doors does vary, but in general they are self-centering bi-directional doors. Previous approaches to constructing a traffic door have included hanging the traffic door from the top of the doorjamb, where the top jamb supports the majority of weight and the moving parts of the traffic-door are exposed. Often the moving parts require lubrication that collects dust and dirt. The dust and dirt create friction that degrades the opening of the door and eventually causes failure of the traffic door. Further, the exposed moving parts are vulnerable to mechanical traffic, such as forklifts and crates, hitting the exposed moving parts as they move through the door.
Other approaches have involved dual hinged doors where one set of hinges swings one direction and then another set of hinges enables the door to swing in the opposite direction. Problems with this approach and the other previous approaches include the doorjamb being damaged by the traffic-door hanging off the doorjamb, increased cost from additional hardware (extra hinges), and the inability of materials used in the traffic-door to withstand the normal abuse encountered during normal use.
Therefore, there is a need for methods and systems for creating and installing traffic-doors that overcomes the disadvantages set forth above.